Case Study
View Case StudyTray.ai
Migrating hundreds of thousands of pages, re-platforming and extending for the leading composable AI integration platform
From Contentful to Agility CMS
We are the Contentful to Agility CMS migration experts
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Challenges with Contentful
Key pain points
Contentful is one of those platforms where the bill can catch you off guard. The free tier caps you at 25 content types and 100K API calls, and a single marketing site can blow past both without warning. The next step up is $300 a month, and enterprise pricing often lands in the $50K to $100K+ a year range.
Users on Reddit regularly flag the same thing: tier jumps are forced by hitting one limit, not by needing the bigger feature set. Content model caps alone can push you into a higher plan you don't otherwise need.
The other issue is that Contentful has strong opinions about how content should be modelled, and those opinions aren't always documented. Projects built without that knowledge tend to accumulate performance problems and awkward workarounds. Before writing Contentful off, speak to us, a lot of the pain we see is implementation, not platform.
Pricing climbs fast
Contentful isn't a cheap CMS. Once you pass the free tier's content type or API call limit, you're on the $300/month Lite plan, and enterprise pricing often starts at $50K+ a year.
Complex for non-technical users
Marketers and editors may need a small learning curve before they feel at home. It’s powerful but not always plug-and-play.
Integration dependency
A lot of magic happens through third-party tools. Great for flexibility, but it does mean extra setup instead of getting everything out-of-the-box.
Limited native features
Contentful keeps the core CMS clean and minimal, but that also means more building and configuring to get advanced functionality.
Learning curve for new teams
If your team is moving from a traditional CMS, expect some onboarding time. Structured content is amazing but new for many.
Requires careful management
Because it’s so flexible, projects need good governance. Without it, content models can get messy and harder to maintain over time.
Benefits of Agility CMS
Key advantages
Agility CMS is one of the few headless CMS platforms that genuinely tries to bridge the gap between developer freedom and editor autonomy. The standout feature is built-in page management, something most headless CMS tools completely ignore. Editors can create and manage pages, control the sitemap, handle SEO fields, and arrange modular components on pages without needing a developer to wire everything up. That alone saves us a ton of back-and-forth on client projects.
The Next.js integration is solid and well-maintained. The SDK handles page routing, preview mode, and image optimization out of the box, and getting a starter site running takes minutes rather than hours. The content modeling interface is intuitive enough that even non-technical clients can understand and extend models without hand-holding, which is rare in the headless space.
Support is genuinely excellent. The team is small enough that you get real humans who know the product inside out, not a ticket queue that disappears into the void. For agencies that need to move fast and hand projects off to client teams, that responsiveness matters. The API request limits are generous too, with high request allowances across all plans, so you're not constantly worrying about overage charges like you would with some competitors.
We also appreciate that Agility takes a pragmatic approach to headless. It doesn't try to be everything, but it does the core CMS job well and stays out of your way when you need to build custom functionality around it.
Built-in page management
The only headless CMS with native page management. Editors can build and manage pages, control the sitemap, and arrange modular components without developer involvement.
Strong Next.js integration
First-class Next.js SDK with automatic preview mode, image optimization, and page routing. Getting a project scaffolded takes minutes, not hours.
Intuitive content modeling
Visual schema modeler that maps to JSON. Non-technical users can understand and extend content models without needing a developer to walk them through it.
Excellent support team
Small, responsive support team that actually knows the product. You get real answers quickly, not generic ticket responses that take days.
Generous API limits
Generous API request allowances across all plans. No surprise overage bills or throttling when traffic spikes, which removes a common headache with usage-based competitors.
Built-in SEO and redirect management
SEO fields, sitemap editing, and URL redirect management are native to the CMS. Editors can handle these without a separate tool or developer intervention.
Common questions
Contentful to Agility CMS migration FAQs
Answers to the most common questions about Contentful to Agility CMS migration
How much does Contentful cost?
Contentful has a Free tier with 10 users, 100K API calls per month, 25 content types, and 10,000 records. The Lite plan is $300/month for 20 users, 1M API calls, and 100GB CDN bandwidth. Premium is custom pricing with unlimited API calls and a 99.99% uptime SLA. We've seen teams hit the free tier's API ceiling or content type cap fast, and the jump to Lite is often forced by a single limit rather than a feature need.
What are some alternatives to Contentful?
Sanity is the alternative we recommend most. It gives you real-time collaboration, a customizable studio, and pay-as-you-go pricing that doesn't punish you for scaling. Storyblok is worth considering if your editors want a visual builder. We've migrated teams off Contentful to both, and Sanity consistently gets the best feedback from developers and content editors alike.
How does Contentful compare to Sanity on pricing?
Contentful charges $300/month for its Lite plan with hard caps on API calls, seats, and content types. Sanity's pricing is usage-based, starting free and scaling with actual consumption. For most mid-size projects, Sanity ends up significantly cheaper. The real difference is that Sanity doesn't gate core features behind premium tiers the way Contentful does with roles, SSO, and content modelling limits.
Can I migrate from Contentful to Sanity?
Yes. We've migrated dozens of Contentful projects to Sanity. The structured content model in Contentful maps well to Sanity's schema, so most migrations are straightforward. Content, assets, references, and localized fields all transfer. Our typical migration takes 2-4 weeks depending on the number of content types and the complexity of your references. We handle frontend rewiring too if you're on Next.js or a similar framework.
Is Contentful good for large enterprise websites?
It can be, but the costs get steep. Enterprise plans are custom-priced and often land in the $50,000-$100,000+ per year range. If you have deep pockets and your team already knows the platform, it works. If you're evaluating from scratch, we'd push you toward Sanity for enterprise use. You get equivalent API performance, better real-time editing, and a pricing model that doesn't penalize growth.
How do we migrate away from Agility CMS?
Agility CMS content is accessible through their REST API, so extracting pages, content lists, and media is doable with scripted API calls. The trickier part is the page management layer. Agility's built-in sitemap and page routing don't have direct equivalents in most headless CMS platforms, so that logic needs to be rebuilt in your frontend. We typically budget 4 to 8 weeks for Agility migrations depending on how deeply the page management features are used.
Is Agility CMS worth the price?
At $1,249/month minimum with no free tier, Agility is one of the priciest headless CMS options available. For teams that genuinely need built-in page management, SEO tools, and generous API limits, the cost can be justified. But most mid-sized teams we work with find they can get the same results with a platform like Sanity at a fraction of the cost, especially when you factor in Agility's additional charges for template customisations that go beyond their standard offerings.
What are the biggest risks of staying on Agility CMS?
The small ecosystem is the long-term concern. With fewer community resources, plugins, and Stack Overflow coverage than competitors, you're heavily reliant on Agility's support team for edge cases. The preview delay frustrates editors who are used to real-time feedback, and component nesting limitations force workarounds as your design system grows. If Agility ever changes pricing or direction, the limited community means fewer migration guides and less shared knowledge to help you move.
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